N.F.L. ROUNDUP; Eight Owners Head Search For a New Commissioner

By JUDY BATTISTA

Published: April 6, 2006

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue selected eight N.F.L. owners with diverse views yesterday to lead the search for his successor.

The committee will be headed by Dan Rooney of Pittsburgh and Jerry Richardson of Carolina, two of the owners Tagliabue has come to trust the most. Al Davis of Oakland, Lamar Hunt of Kansas City, Woody Johnson of the Jets, Jerry Jones of Dallas, Robert K. Kraft of New England and Mike McCaskey of Chicago complete the group.

Richardson and Rooney, viewed as moderates by their peers, were heavily involved in jump-starting collective bargaining negotiations with the players union this year when decades of labor peace in the league seemed imperiled.

The committee will hire an executive search firm that will interview all 32 owners about the qualities they want in a new commissioner. The firm is expected to vet and recommend candidates to the committee, which will also conduct interviews. The choice will require the approval of 22 owners.

Tagliabue will not make a recommendation to the owners. Each member of the committee will be assigned at least three other owners with whom he will communicate throughout the process, Kraft said yesterday in a telephone interview.

''There's no prototype,'' Kraft said. ''I don't think it's much like corporate America filling a standard position. You have to have knowledge in media, labor relations, finance and construction of new stadiums, sponsorships.''

A new commissioner will probably not be selected before mid-July. Tagliabue said that he would remain until a successor was hired.